The present invention relates to an electronic transaction system for depositing currency to a financial institution such as a bank, storing a value corresponding to this currency as money information (electronic money) in a card (IC card) mounted with an integrated circuit and settling the cost by withdrawing from electronic money stored on the IC card when paying at the time of a business transaction such as the purchase of goods.
A number of methods of settling costs using electronic money exist, such as prepaid (advance payment), debit (immediate payment) and credit (deferred payment). An example of a method for settling costs by prepayment is disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. Hei. 7-104891. In this publication, technology is disclosed where an outstanding amount is deducted from a balance recorded on a customer IC card (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9ccustomer cardxe2x80x9d) and the outstanding amount is directly transferred to a vendor IC card (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cvendor cardxe2x80x9d).
This technology is characterized by the point that charge settlement is then complete in the case of a business transaction. This technology means that the former case where a vendor would have to take transaction records to a financial institution to have the transaction records put into cash form is no longer the case. This technology has reduced the cash handling costs involved in the calculating of cash and change at vendors and financial institutions and eliminated the accompanying office processing.
However, a number of conditions exist in charge settlement methods employing electronic money due to differences in the aforementioned methods and differences in the approaches of each financial institution that are issuing bodies for electronic money even when the method is the same. Within this number of conditions there are several methods of replenishing customer cards with electronic money. In these methods, the customer has to replenish the customer cards with electronic money coinciding with the charge settlement conditions set at each customer card. Because of this, the customer has to go to a branch of a financial institution handling electronic money that coincides with the charge settlement conditions for each customer card and replenish the customer card with electronic money, or alternatively, replenish the customer card with electronic money at the customer""s house using a household terminal coinciding with the charge settlement conditions.
When a customer card is replenished with electronic money at a branch of a financial institution, the customer utilizes an automatic teller machine capable of performing electronic money replenishment transactions, cash is put into the automatic teller machine so that the cash is converted to electronic money, and this then replenishes a customer card. Alternatively, a connection can be made using the automatic teller machine with the host computer of the financial institution managing the customer""s account, and the customer can replenish the customer card with electronic money from his own account to a value corresponding to a prescribed amount. However, at this time it is necessary for the customer to look for a branch of the financial institution that issued the card or go a long distance to a branch. This makes replenishing the customer card with electronic money laborious.
When the customer replenishes the customer card with electronic money at his own home, the customer connects with the host computer of the financial institution managing his personal account via a communications line, etc., using a household terminal capable of performing electronic money replenishing transactions and replenishes the customer card inserted into the household terminal with a value corresponding to a prescribed amount to be withdrawn from the customer""s own account in the form of electronic money. It is therefore necessary at this time for the customer to prepare a number of household terminals for each of the cost settlement conditions, which requires substantial installation investment. Alternatively, it is necessary to prepare a customer card issued by the issuing body that coincides with the charge settlement conditions set at the household terminal. Either approach is extremely troublesome for the customer. Because of these reasons, customers have not been able to utilize the electronic transaction systems in a sufficient manner, and financial institutions have not been able to effectively utilize automatic teller machines that have been maintained with substantial investment in installations.
The present invention adopts the following configurations in order to resolve the aforementioned problems.
(Configuration 1)
In a first aspect of the present invention, in an electronic transaction system utilizing a customer card issued so as to correspond to a customer account established at a financial institution, for carrying out transaction processing of pre-decided settlement conditions and an automatic teller machine, where transaction processing is carried out using the customer card and electronic money, a plurality of ATM cards for carrying out transaction processing of pre-decided transaction conditions for electronic money of different issuers or for different types of electronic money of the same issuer are housed at an automatic teller machine, control software for controlling the plurality of ATM cards is stored and a plurality of transaction processes of different settlement types can be obtained.
(Description of Configuration 1)
This system is capable of carrying out transaction processing using electronic money of different issuing bodies or different types of electronic money of the same issuer.
(Configuration 2)
In a second aspect of the present invention, the automatic teller machine of the first aspect of the present invention reads information specifying settlement conditions from an inserted customer card, activates control software coinciding with the settlement conditions using the read information and carries out transactions between the ATM card stored in the automatic teller machine and the customer card.
(Description of Configuration 2)
This system reads information specifying the settlement conditions from the customer card and specifies the settlement conditions based on this information.
(Configuration 3)
In a third aspect of the present invention, the automatic teller machine of the first aspect of the present invention activates control software in a pre-decided settlement condition order when information specifying the settlement conditions is read from the inserted customer card and settlement conditions cannot be specified from the read information.
(Description of Configuration 3)
This system tests transaction processes in order using pre-decided settlement conditions when information specifying settlement conditions cannot be read from the customer card.